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Stories that matter Other stories I am working on for later this week (links to be added as the stories are filed): Details about downtown parking lots and how they will be used … but will it be enough? The city gets more time to renovate the old New Bern Train Depot. The city moves forward to develop Martin Marietta Park, which will become the city’s largest park. Wreaths Across America: Group plans to place wreaths on the gravestones of veterans across the United States, including 1,517 at New Bern National Cemetery. City gearing up for a frickin awesome holiday season, including something new this year.Read More →

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In its final meeting Tuesday before all hell breaks loose, the Master Parking Plan Advisory Committee (it only took me three weeks to get the full name right) plowed through last week’s draft of recommendations and added several more. The committee is delivering its recommendations to the Board of Aldermen at a workshop the board has scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 21. One new addition to the recommendations is that the Board of Aldermen not take any action, but leave the public hearing and final decisions to January 2018, after new board members take their seats and have had a chance to get settled in andRead More →

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Coming up Tuesday in the New Bern Post: Full coverage of the last Parking Advisory Committee meeting Tuesday afternoon and its final recommendations to the Board of Aldermen, and top-story coverage of Tuesday evening’s Board of Aldermen meeting. Later this week, I’ll drill down into the minutiae. Because I’m not looking to build an audience. I’m looking to build community awareness and civic involvement. ~ Randy Foster, New Bern Post Got tips or comments?Read More →

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Board of Aldermen 7 p.m. Tuesday, November 14, 2017 City Hall, corner of Pollock and Craven streets Agenda   1.  Meeting opened by Mayor Dana E. Outlaw.  Prayer Coordinated by Alderman Odham.   Pledge of Allegiance. 2.  Roll Call. 3.  Request and Petition of Citizens. This section of the Agenda is titled Requests and Petitions of Citizens.  This is an opportunity for public comment, and we thank you for coming to the Board of Aldermen meeting tonight to share your views.  We value all citizen input. Speaker comments are limited to a maximum of 4 minutes during the public comment period.  At the conclusion of 4Read More →

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Saltwater Creek LLC, a real estate company that lists New Bern lawyer Kelly Greene as its manager, has put in a bid for $109,000 for long-vacant commercial building on Broad Street. The two-story office building is on a half acre lot at 509 Broad St. The Craven County tax office puts the building’s value at $310,000. The building, constructed in 1950, was once the location for Craven County Council on Aging and more recently the Craven County Probation Office. The building has been vacant for years. At one point there was a plan to turn the building into a business incubator and work was started.Read More →

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The New Bern Planning and Zoning Board met Tuesday with two agenda items and one discussion item. 1 – Consideration of a General Plan for Miller & Brabble Properties, LLC/Robert Chiles Engineering; a proposed 2 lot major subdivision on a 9.98+/- acre tract, located at the intersection of Karen Drive and Neuse Boulevard. The property is further identified as Craven County Parcel identification number 8-241-025. (Ward 4). Plan is to build an apartment complex.Sept. 1 reviewed proposed general plan. City staff recommended approval. The board, meeting with a bare minimum quorum, voted unanimously to approve the subdivision. In short, the property owner wants to subdivideRead More →

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One item on the Master Parking Plan Advisory Committee draft list of recommendations that didn’t make the cut on Tuesday is euphemistically called “Trash Plaza.” Bear Plaza, the cozy, charming stretch of narrow open space that starts on Middle Street, comes to an abrupt end at Trash Plaza. The area doesn’t have a formal name, and consists of a meandering parking lot punctuated by concrete islands, random shrubbery, garbage cans, and the faint aroma of bat guano — all owned by something like 14 people or entities (see Craven County GIS map, right). “The MPPAC (or, advisory committee for short) recommends the BOA (or, BoardRead More →

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Paid parking on Broad Street won’t be among the recommendations an advisory committee brings to the Board of Aldermen at its Nov. 21 meeting. The Downtown Parking Advisory Committee also decided not to meddle with current parking rules on Broad Street, New Street, Hancock Street and Metcalf Street. Both proposals were among several contained in a draft list of recommendations that came before the committee on Tuesday. The committee will finalize its plan on Tuesday, Nov. 14, before bringing its recommendations to the Board of Aldermen on Tuesday, Nov. 21. The committee will likely proceed with its recommendation to start enforcing 2-hour parking limits inRead More →

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Lots of folks in downtown New Bern think they dodged a bullet when a downtown parking advisory committee leaned against recommending paid parking throughout downtown. Except along Broad Street. Folks there are still at the shooty-shooty end of the barrel. The committee will probably recommend that the city start enforcing the two-hour parking limit downtown. But anticipating an exodus of cars to nearby unregulated streets starting with Broad Street, the committee came up with the idea of installing paid parking kiosks charging a dollar an hour on Broad Street from the traffic circle to Middle Street. Parking would be free on nights, weekends, holidays andRead More →

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A study commissioned by New Bern and released in 2007 made several recommendations to improve Downtown New Bern’s parking situation. A parking structure was not among the recommendations, but was mentioned as an aside. The report by Lanier Parking Solutions recommended against adding paid parking downtown, unless the city built a parking structure, in which case it would need to have paid parking to pay for the construction costs. If a parking structure was considered, it recommended one of four locations: Within the “super block” between Middle, South Front, Craven and Pollock streets. The city lot at 100 Craven St. The Farmers Market Behind theRead More →